Thin graphitic films are considered as promising electronic materials due to exceptional heat and electrical conductance within the graphite layers. However, their application in electronic devices can be limited by the fact that graphitic materials are notoriously difficult to pattern because of their chemical inertness. Moreover, patterning requires that they not only react, but react in a spatially-resolved manner.
Another impediment to any patterning process is that damage often occurs during the deposition and etching of the active material. Therefore, many patterning processes require a damage-repair step. In the same way that etching of graphite materials is difficult, the repair of defects in the material is difficult because damaged graphite is still chemically refractory.
Although defects are often deleterious to the electrical behavior of electronic materials, they can be beneficial for the processing of such materials. For example, defects can be used as initiation sites for further etching or chemical surface modification of the graphitic material. Further, if the areas containing such defects can be made in a spatially-resolved manner, they would serve as a blueprint for a component in electric circuitry.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a simple way to form spatially-resolved defects on the surface of graphitic materials. It would also be desirable to remove defects in graphitic materials in a spatially-resolved manner.